Table.



No. 693,357. Patented Feb. ll, I902.

- -E. TYDEN.

TABLE.

(Application filed Feb. 18, 190 1.) (No Model.)

THE nona'ls Perms 60.. PQc'rmLwNo" WASHINGTON. a. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL TYDEN, OF HASTINGS, MICHIGAN.

. TABLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 693,357, dated February11, 1902.

Application filed February 18, 1901. Serial No. 47,740. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL TYDEN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Hastings, in

the county of Barry and State of Michigan,

tion.

. Lions.

It consists in the structural features set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of anextension-table embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a detail section atthe line 2 2 on Figs. 1 and 3. .Fig. 3 is a detail plan of a portion ofthe same table, the

part being partly broken away to disclose details of the structurebeneath. Fig. 4 is a detail section at the line 4 4 on Fig. 3.

My invention relates to the joining of several sections or boards of thetable-top, more particularly with reference to the means of securingthem together by boards or bars which extend crosswise of their abuttingedges, operating as cleats to unite said sec- The customary method ofjoining the sections or several boards of a table-top so as to retainthem perfectly abutting and rigid as one continuous board is to apply tothe under surface transversely-extending strips or bars secured to eachsection of the tabletop by one or more screws takin g through thetransverse board or bar into the under side of the section of thetable-top. The transverse board or bar is sometimes also screwed to theunder surface of the sections which are united by it. The difficultyexperienced with this mode of junction and securing the sections oftable-tops together is that when tables so made of thoroughly-driedlumber are stored or used in places where they are exposed to a moistatmosphere the boards of the table-top swell and increase in width,while the joining bar or cleat below does not materially increase inlength from the same cause. This results in the boards of the table topbulging up at their junction and, besides making the surface of thetable uneven,opens crevices at the upper surface, which are liable tobecome filled with dust, so that when the boards begin to dry out andshrink to their normal position such material which has lodged in thecrevices causes the boards to be crowded apart or prevented fromsubsiding into their natural position, so that the table is not onlytemporarily, but permanently, distorted by the efiect of the moisture,and in addition the screws which secure the sections of the table-top tothe joining bar below become loosenedas the boards warp and bulgeupward, so that it never recovers its proper position. This difficulty Iovercome by the details of structure which I will now describe. orseveral boards of the table-top, are secured together by the cleats M M,extending on the under side transversely to the sections 0. a in theangle between the tabletop and the side moldings B, to-which said cleatsM are secured by gluing or otherwise, as desired, the cleats servingthereby as a means of securing the molding to the tabletop in additionto anyothe'r means which may be employed. The sections a a are also secured together in extension-tables such as a a a, representing thesections represented in the drawings by one of the slides P P .Ppertaining to the extension device, whose function as such extensiondevice is well understood and need not be described. One of the set ofslides is necessarily secured rigidly to each of the separable parts ofthe table and may be utilized as the means of securing the sections ofthat part of the table firmly together in the same manner as the, cleatM is utilized for that purpose, .in addition to the purpose of securingthe molding to the tabletop. In each instance (that is, in the case ofthe cleat M and the slide-bar P) the method of fastening employed andconstituting this part of my invention consists in deeply counter-boringthe screw-holes in the element which operates as a cleat, enlarging itfrom the end or side next to the sections of the table-top which are tobe joined by such cleat, the screw being inserted through from theopposite side and screwed into the section of the table-top, leaving it(that is to say, the screw) without lateral bearing or support for aconsiderable portion of its length from the surface of the table-topsections back toward the head, so that it is free to bend or spring inthat portion of its length in order to permit the section of thetable-top which it secures to slide upon the edge of the cleat elementwhenever swelling or shrinking of the sections of the table-top occurs.Fig. 4: most clearly illustrates this feature of construction in thecase of the slide-bar P operating as a cleat to secure the sections a atogether, L being a screw which is set through the slide bar P from thelower edge and screwed into the under surface of one of the sections aof the table-top, the screw-holes being counterbored or enlarged, asshown at p, the enlargement extending over about twothirds of the lengthof the screw-holes from the side or edge abutting on the under side ofthe table-top sections which are joined, leaving the remaining thirdonly to aiford lateral bearing to the screw shank and head to give thescrew fixedness of position at the head in the cleat elementtheslide-bar P. Similarprovision will be made at all the screwholessecuring the cleat element to the sections at a except L, Fig. 4,nearest the side or edge of the table-top, which, for any reason, it isdesired to keep in unchanged relation to the cleat element. Sometimes itwill be a matter of indifference in which direction the sliding occursor which element-that is, the table-top sections or the cleats-moves toaccommodate the swelling or shrinking, and in such a case all thescrew-holes may be counterbores,as described. Similar construction isshown with respect to one of the cleats M in Fig. 2, wherein Rrepresents the screw, and the counterbore of the screw-hole is seen atm. This expedient for the purpose stated involves a detail change fromthe ordinary method of securing cleats by screws to the parts which theyare to bind together in that ordinarily the screw-hole is counterboredat the end at which the screw is inserted, so that the head may sinkinto the cleat and reach the shoulder upon which it binds as near to theplane of the abutting surfaces of the cleats and joined sections aspossible, so that the shortest possible length of screw may intervenebetween such shoulder and its rigid .engagement with the wood in whichit is screwed, because by this means a shorter screw may be employed andless insecurity at the junction results from the possible flexibility ofthe screw orits liability to bend. On the contrary, in my constructionit will be noticed that it is desirable to seat the head of the screw atthe greater rather than the less distance from the abutting surfaces ofthe cleat and joined sections, so that the flexibility or capacity forbending of the screw may be utilized to the greater extent inaccommodating the movement of the sections upon the cleats due toshrinking and swelling. For this reason in applying my invention thecleats which would in the ordinary construction be laid flat upon thesections which they are to secure together would preferably be placededgewise, so that the greater depth may be obtained in the direction inwhich the screw is inserted and more room afforded by the counterbore.

I claim- 1. In a table, a plurality of top-sections in combinationwithacleat elementjoining such sections and screws set through the cleatelement into the topsections respectively; said cleat element having thescrew-holes counterbored or enlarged for a substantial distance backfrom the surface which abuts on the joined sections.

2. In a table, in combination with a plurality of its sections formingthe top, a cleat element joining such sections, and screws set throughthe cleat element into the sections respectively, said cleat elementhaving the holes for the screws taking into the topsections except onecounterbored or enlarged for a substantial distance back from thesurface abutting on the joined sections,and the screw-holes taking intothe remaining section adapted to afford bearingfor the screws throughoutthe whole extent of the latter in such cleat ele ment.

-3. In a table, in combination with a plurality of sections forming thetop, an edgewise cleat or joining-bar extending crosswise of theabutting edges of the top-sections, and screws set through the edgewisecleatinto the respective sections of the top; the cleat having thescrew-holes deeply counterbored or enlarged from the edge next to thejoined sections, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Hastings, Michigan,in the presence of two witnesses, this 15th'day of February, A. D. 1901.

EMIL TYDEN. In presence of- A. 0. BROWN, NORA COOPER.

